The Sun's Hate
by peachglow
Summary: Bella has xeroderma pigmentosa, XP . Returns to Forks, believing there is no cure, thus causing her to push everyone away to avoid pain. She meets Edward and learns that there is a cure out there, however there's a price she must pay if she wants it...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Stephenie Meyer is the author of the _Twilight_ series, not I.

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It has been years since I've been in Forks, my birthplace. During my years away from Forks, my mother, a divorcee, took me to various places across the country. She was always moving from one place to another when she could not find what she wanted. Somewhere between the moves, she met Phil, my new step-father. No, it was not love that she was searching for in her moves. What she was searching for was a cure for my disorder. No matter how many doctors, even the ones with renowned positions, told her that my disorder has no available cure, she would not believe it. She believes that there is a cure out there, _somewhere_. However, I _know_ that there is no cure. There is no cure for a genetic disorder. And there is certainly no cure for xeroderma pigmentosa.

Of course, those were my thoughts before I met him and his family. He showed me that there _was_ a way for me to go out in the sunlight without receiving serious sunburns. However, for me to live in the sun comes with a price. Like for everything you want, you must pay a price. My price? It was not money. What he asked for was for me to stay with him for the rest of my life. To spend all of eternity with him, in return for 'curing' my genetic disorder. The person to whom I must spend my life? _Edward Cullen._

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**A/N:** First of all, xeroderma pigmentosa (XP) is a real genetic disorder. What I present in this story will not be entirely accurate with people who have XP. I'm using my knowledge of XP based from research; therefore some of the sources that I use may not be reliable. Secondly, updates… I will update whenever I can—it may be weeks from now, or even months. 


	2. Chapter 2

After my silent trip home with Charlie, my dad, from the airport, I went to my room to unpack. Charlie had already 'sun-proof' the house when I was little, so not much changes had been made. My parents discovered that I had xeroderma pigmentosa, XP for short, when I was about a year old. It was one of those rare sunny days in Forks, so my mother, Renee, took me out in the sunlight to play. It was not long before I had severe sunburns. The doctors thought that Renee had abused me and made up the sunburn story. Fortunately, there was a doctor who was smart enough to run some tests. The test results showed that I indeed had XP and that Renee did not abuse me. Charlie then went on to 'sun-proof' the house so that I can be safe. Now, there were still the tinted windows, incandescent light bulbs, LED lamps, a special screen to dim the lights from the television, and so on. Sure the incandescent light bulbs were using up valuable resources, but it is better than having to pay the medical bills whenever I have to go to the hospital for sun burns.

Charlie had left me alone to unpack, which I was grateful for. It was awkward for him to suddenly have his daughter back home after so many years. Renee took me across the country to try to find a cure for me. No matter how many doctors told her that XP, a genetic disorder, cannot be cured, she would not listen. She intended to make sure that she did everything that she could to make sure that I lived pass twenty and live a healthy life. Charlie did not want me to be all over the country where I had a high chance of becoming in contact with UV light, but Renee would not listen to him. Thus, this caused the divorce. 

It was my last exposure in Phoenix that caused Charlie to put his foot down and told Renee to let me live in Forks again. It was not Renee's fault for that exposure—it was mine. I knew better than to go into direct sunlight, but I could not help it. Everything looked different in sunlight than it was in moonlight.

I do not mind coming to Forks to live. This gives Renee to live her life. She recently married Phil and I knew that I was the cause that was stopping her from living a happy life. The excuse that Forks was rarely sunny was perfect.

Since I am now in Forks, the topic of whether or not I can attend school here is being debated by Charlie and Renee. I have never attended school before—I was homeschooled. Renee did not want me to attend school, afraid that the other kids will make fun of my disorder; however Charlie thought that it would be great for me to attend school, claiming that he knew most of the students at the school. I really wanted to go to school—to feel what it is like to be in that type of environment instead of imagining it with the help of books.

I went downstairs to fix dinner for myself and Charlie. How Charlie was able to survive these past years by himself was beyond me. 

"I talked to Renee, and she said that if you want to attend school, you can," Charlie said after commenting on my cooking skills.

I was happy. I was finally going to be like a 'normal' person here. I cannot wait to feel what it was like to have friends, to have teachers that I did not like, to do some of the experiments that I could not do while I was homeschooled, and so on.

"You'll be able to attend after getting a check up—Renee's conditions." Charlie said quickly, trying to avoid a conflict.

The thing with having XP is that I have to undergo various check ups. Oh yes, the being who created us humans was mean. If we have one painful illness, that does not mean that we will not receive any other illness. With XP, damages to my skin tissues and eye tissues are not repaired, thus leading to cancer. 

"I made an appointment for you at the hospital to see Dr. Cullen. He's a really great doctor, able to work at another place for more money, but decides to work here. We're really lucky to have him here…" Charlie kept on talking about how great the doctor was, and I tuned him out. I was like that sometimes; I tune people out because I did not want to hear them.

"Bella, are you listening to me?" Charlie asked me a question which I did not hear because I was not listening.

"Sorry, Dad. Just a bit tired. What was it that you asked?"

"I asked if tomorrow was a good day for you to see Dr. Cullen. When I finish work." Charlie had a worried look on his face when I said that I was tired.

"Sure—not like I'll be busy." Charlie still had that worried look on his face. 

"Don't worry about me, Dad. I'm just tired from the plane, that's all. Nothing to be worried about." I reassured him.

Charlie still looked sceptical, but let it go. He probably did not want to create an issue about it. If it was Renee, however, she would have told me to put on my protective wear and drove me straight to the hospital.

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The next day, I went through with my routine for the last sixteen years: putting on sunscreen and long clothes that covered most of my skin tissues. I did not want to wear the face mask that was specially made for people with XP, but Charlie insisted that I take it with me just in case the hospital's lighting was harmful to me. If the hospital's lighting was harmful to me, then how am I'm supposed to get a check up?

It was a quiet ride to the hospital with Charlie and I liked it that way. I do not like being asked about my disorder. It was more than enough when I was with Renee. Once we were at the hospital, Charlie went inside the hospital and used the UV meter, testing to see whether or not the lighting was safe. He motioned to me, indicating that it was safe and I did not have to wear that awful face mask. We did not have to wait long for Dr. Cullen. I had imagined Dr. Cullen to 

an old man, but I was shocked to see him. He looked more like a model than a doctor! I could not believe that his man, who was extremely handsome, was a doctor.

"Good evening, Isabella." Dr. Cullen shook my hand, and it felt surprisingly cold. He must have been working with something cold before my appointment.

I corrected him, preferring my short name than my long name, "Bella."

He smiled and greeted my father. The check up routine was then performed. Of course, some of the results were not immediate. I would have to come back at a later date to discuss those results, but for now, we were discussing the results that were recently done.

"Now Bella, your eye sight is a bit cloudy, have you noticed that before?" Charlie looked alarm by this fact.

"No, not really…" I knew that the cornea being cloudy was one of the symptoms of XP, but I never had given it a thought that it might happen to me. My eye sight has been fine over the past few years. It makes me wonder when I will become blind…

"Now, I don't want you to worry about it too much. I'm sure you know what to do, but if you see any differences in your eyesight, please come back to see me right away." Dr. Cullen smiled at me, assuring me that it was fine and there was nothing I should worry about.

Dr. Cullen then went on about my physical examination of my skin. For nearly everyone with XP, they look older than they really are. The pictures of those are really horrible.

"You look like a normal teenager, a bit older than your age." I was proud of this. My skin is one of my pride—by taking good care of it means that I have been taking good care of myself. It is not as soft as it was before my little sunlight exposure in Phoenix, but still, it was good.

"Those blisters are healing up nicely from your last exposure to sunlight. I do not see a reason to change the medication that you have right now." Dr. Cullen said as he looked over my records, which was a lot since Renee took me all over the country.

"Now Bella, may I ask which type of sunscreen are you using?" If anyone saw my room, then they would think that I am a sunscreen junkie. I have tons of sunscreen, since I use it on a daily basis, even if it is not sunny outside.

"SPF 50." SPF 30 was considered to be the minimal SPF that I could use. Anything lower would not as effective. I was constantly on the lookout for a higher SPF, since that decreases some of my chances of skin cancer.

Dr. Cullen nodded and scribbled down some notes into my file. Dr. Cullen then continued to ask about what methods I was using to avoid sunlight. Charlie answered the questions about how our home was 'sun-proof' for me. 

"Well, that ends our discussion for today. Please make an appointment to see me next about your other test results. Do you have any questions?"

"Will Bella become blind soon?" Charlie was worried by the fact that his eyes are a lot better than mine at the moment.

"I cannot say that she will or she won't. Regular check ups and coming to see me if she notices changes in her vision will help decrease it, but at the moment I cannot say." Dr. Cullen looked Charlie into the eye while saying this, which I was surprised since all of my previous doctors would avoid doing so. Charlie was disappointed with the response, but nonetheless I think he is happy that the doctor was not giving him false hope.

"Thank you for your time, Dr. Cullen." Charlie and I walked out of his office and to the reception desk to make my next appointment with Dr. Cullen.

On the way home, I made Charlie stop at the grocery store to pick up some food. There were whispers among the customers as they saw me and Charlie. I guess I was the latest town gossip. "Chief Swan's Daughter Returns After Mother Remarries," would make a great headline. I suppose barely anything happens in Forks, therefore my 'return' was the only thing the wives had to talk about. I ignored all the stares and whispers and tried to finish the grocery shopping as fast as I could.

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After my results came in, and I talked to Dr. Cullen about them, I was allowed to go to school. Of by then, Renee had made me change my mind about attending school. She was worried that I would be picked apart by the students there, since they most likely have never meant someone with a genetic disorder in their entire life. She was worried that I would not be able to handle the stares and whispers. I wished that she would have told me about these things before I said that I wanted to go to school. If I was going to be treated like I was at the grocery store, then I would have preferred to be homeschooled. But there was no backing down now. I made my choice and I had to pay for that choice, even if it means that I was to be stared at and whispered about.

Charlie gave me Billy Black's old red truck as a present for attending school. It was a lot better than getting a ride from him in his cruiser or walking there. Of course the truck was not the latest style among cares, but I liked it. I though that it suited me just fine. 

The night before I was to start my first day at school I could not sleep. I was nervous. I kept on thinking about the many possible situations that will happen on my first day of school. Many of which came from the countless amount of books that I have read. In the end, I decided to turn off the lights and shut my eyes to try to fall asleep. It was not long before I had fallen asleep and my first day of school has started.

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**A/N:** I had a request to explain XP, so here it is. XP is a genetic disorder, to be more specific, it is an autosomal-recessive disorder. It is rare—worldwide it is about 1 in every 250, 000. Basically the person has no repair mechanism to repair damages caused by UV light. Normal people can go into sunlight without getting sunburns, but people with XP will get blisters and severe sunburns with even the_littlest_ amount of UV light. There are many types of XP: XP-A, XP-B, XP-C and so on to XP-G. Some of the common symptoms of XP are: severe sunburns, blisters, and/or freckling from contact with sunlight; many freckles; thin skin; extremely dry skin; sensitive eyes to the sun; and premature aging. Since there is no repair mechanisms for people with XP (some do have _some_ form of repair mechanism), they tend to get skin cancer and die from it. The lifetime of people with XP varies. There is no current available treatment for XP. There are talks about protein therapy and gene therapy, but as of yet, there is no available cure. 

Most of the facts that I used in this chapters are true, while some of which I am unsure of. Tinted windows, incandescent light bulbs, and UV meters are commonly used by people with XP. UV meters measures the amount of UV emitted from light sources, and the number read from the meter will determine whether or not the place is safe. The face mask mentioned looks like those masks worn by people working in a nuclear environment (check my profile for picture). The plastic cover at the front shields from UV light and must be replaced regularly. 

If you have anymore questions about XP, I'll try to answer them. However, I'm no expert in this, therefore I might not be able to answer some of them.


	3. Chapter 3

When I woke up, I suddenly felt the impact of my decision to go to school. Not only was I nervous, but I was also afraid. Afraid that I would be rejected. Many people today deem those who are normal to be acceptable. However, those who are disabled or have faults are looked down upon. Society was cruel that way. There has to be a hierarchy for everything. A system.

After spending some time with Charlie, I quickly learned that it would be better if I was in charged of the food in the house. It was a mutual agreement by the both of us. When we both sat down for breakfast, I noticed that Charlie was fidgeting.

"Bella, do you want me to take you to school?"

"No, it's okay, Dad." I did not want too much attention on my first day of school. With Charlie there, it was sure to be the hottest gossip.

"Well, if you're not feeling well to go to school…" I knew that he was worried. After all, this _is_ my first time attending school.

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." I certainly_ was not_ fine, but I did not let Charlie know that. He went through all the trouble of letting me attend school, and I did not want that to go to waste.

After breakfast was done and Charlie finally left for work after lots of assurance, I slowly got ready for school. After going through my routine putting on sun screen and picking out clothes that would cover most of my skin, I was ready. While driving to the school, I noticed that there were not a lot of cars on the road to the school. When I saw the empty parking lot, I realized that I was early for school.

After parking my truck, I went to the school's office for the instructions as to what I was supposed to do. I had a general idea of what school might be like, but I was not sure. Reading about attending school is a different thing from experiencing it. There were many scenarios when reading about attending school from novels, but when you are experiencing it, not many of the scenarios that you have read seems to fit what you are experiencing.

I found the office and hesitated to open the door, but I forced myself to do anyways. Inside, there was a secretary typing away on her keyboard.

"Yes? May I help you?" She did not turn her head to look at me.

"I'm Isabella Swan and new here." I hated my first name. It was four syllables long, longer than the average person's name. I preferred Bella, since that was shorter than four syllables.

"Ah, yes! We've been expecting you, Miss Swan." The secretary was now turned to face me. She grabbed a folder that clearly had my name written on it. I was told about my classes, the location of my classes, and the expectations. I stopped listening after I was told where my classes would be. Instead of listening to her, I memorized the locations of my classes. I did not 

want to be looking at the map every time I had to go to my next class. I felt that it was unnecessary and that it would draw attention to me.

"Now, remember to have those slips signed and returned at the end of the day, Miss Swan."

When I walked out of the office, I was surprised to see that the once empty hallways were filled with students. I quickly made my way to my first class, which was easy to find since it was near the office. I slowly walked through the door and approached the teacher to hand him the slip of paper. The slip of paper was returned to me signed, and the teacher just pointed to the empty seat at the back of the classroom, indicating where I was to sit. I was somewhat glad that I did not have to introduce myself, but the students near me kept on starring at me. I felt uncomfortable under those stares, but I did my best to try and ignore them. It was the same routine with all of my other classes. Although some made me introduce myself, which I hated.

When it was lunch time, I was worried that I had to sit alone, but I was saved by a girl who asked me to sit with her and her friends. I could not remember her name, but I knew that she was in one of my other classes. It was a blur to me when she introduced me to her friends. I could not remember their names.

"So, Isabella, what happened to your face?" A blonde girl asked the question and I was shocked by how rude the question was. I was unsure of whether or not she was curious or just being plain rude.

"An allergic reaction, that's all." I did not want anyone to know about my disorder. I was sure that most of the people in Forks were unaware of my condition. They probably thought that I was some weird teenager and that the way I looked was due to the divorce of Charlie and Renee.

"And, like, why aren't you tan? Didn't you come from, like, Phoenix?"

"I wasn't in Phoenix for that long."

She was about to ask another question when another girl changed the subject. I gave her a small smile—grateful that she saved me. Since the subject of conversation was no longer on me, I took a look around the lunch room. I recognized the faces of some of my peers, while other faces were new to me.

"Isabella. Isabella." I returned my attention back to the table.

"Lunch is over." I took a glance at the time and saw that lunch was indeed over.

"Which class do you have next? Maybe one of us will be in the same class as you."

"Biology."

"That's great; you'll be in my class." A boy with blonde hair smiled at me.

As we walked to class together, he started to ask me questions about myself. I did not want to answer them, yet I knew that I wanted some friends in my life, therefore I made an effort. It was not much, but it was still an effort.

"I'm sorry about Lauren, back there." Who was Lauren?

He must have seen my confused looked, because he started to laugh.

"She's the girl who asked you about your face…" Oh! Her. I was somewhat glad that I could now put a name to a face, considering that I have not been able to do that today.

I just shrugged and walked into the classroom. I went through the routine of giving the teacher the slip of paper to sign again. I was grateful when he did not introduced me to the class as some of my other teachers had.

"Now, Isabella, you can sit next to Mr. Cullen there." The Biology teacher made a gesture to the only empty seat left in the classroom. As I walked past the blonde guy who walked me to class, I thought that I saw a look of disappointment on his face. As I approached my new bench mate, I was taken back with how gorgeous he was. I had never seen anyone who looked this beautiful in my entire life. Sure I did not go out much, but still.

I was going to introduce myself, something that I hated to do, to him, but his body language made me think otherwise. It looked as if he was angry at me, a person whom he had never met nor talked to in his life. I decided to ignore him and dutifully take down the lecture notes. However, throughout the note taking, I could not help myself but to sneak glances out of the corner of my eye. He looked so perfect. There was not a single flaw that I could find, except for that body language that he was carrying out, which I can ignore. Extremely beautiful. Pale skin, lovely bronze coloured hair that seemed so _warm_, and black eyes. There were bags under his eyes though, but that was probably from not getting enough sleep. He indeed is beautiful.

When class ended, I saw that my bench mate dashed out of the classroom in a blur. He must be on track for him to run so fast.

"So, Isabella, which class do you have next?" The guy who walked me to class appeared to be happy that my bench mate ran off.

"Umm… Gym?"

"That's great! We're in the same class again!" He seemed too excited by the fact that we have the same classes for the afternoon.

I finally decided that I _hated_ Gym. I had no hand-eye coordination whatsoever. I knew that I was somewhat clumsy at home, but I had never thought that I would trip over my own feet. It was quite embarrassing. I was thankful that the teacher allowed me to sit out for the remainder 

of the class. Mike, the guy who had the same afternoon classes as me, kept on looking at me, smiling. I finally learned his name when the coach yelled at him for not paying attention.

When class was finally over, I told Mike, who wanted to walk me to my car, that I had to go to the office. He seemed too disappointed in my mind. I supposed that novels portray high school males differently from real life.

When I walked into the office, I was surprised that my bench mate from Biology was there. The secretary was practically melting under his gaze.

"I'm sorry, Edward, but the most that I can do is to talk to your teacher."

So, his name was Edward. _Edward Cullen_. He fitted his name perfectly.

"Are you sure?" Even his voice was sexy! He really was perfect by nature. His parents must be lovely as well.

"Yes, I'm sure, Edward. Now, I can talk to your…"

"No, it's alright. I do not want to trouble you." Polite too. Really perfect.

Edward turned around and saw me. A scowl appeared on his face. He must have been mad that I heard his conversation with the secretary.

"Ah, Miss Swan! How was your day?" I noticed that she called me formally and Edward as if she was intimate with him. That was really unfair in my thoughts, but I did not wanted to be called 'Isabella,' thus I let it go.

"It was well…" I handed her the slips of paper and walked out of the office, towards my truck. The parking lot was nearly empty now. I understood that not many students would want to stay behind at school when they could leave right away. As I was walking towards my truck, I noticed Edward getting into his car. A Volvo. There were other people with him in the car. Although I only got a glimpse of who was in the car, as he drove passed fast, I noticed that they too were beautiful like Edward. Family? I was still in a daze when he left the school area. Noticing that I was the last one left in the student parking lot, I started my drive home.

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Later that evening, Charlie asked me about my day during dinner. No doubt that he wanted to make sure that I was being treated fine.

"How was your day, Bella?"

"It was good. I met a lot of new people."

"That's good to hear. Who did you meet?"

I tried to remember the best that I could for the names of the people that I met today.

"Umm, Mike Newton… Jessica—I don't remember hearing her last name… And Edward Cullen?" I, now, just realized that I was horrible with names. Of course, I had no trouble remembering Edward's name, but that was beside the point.

"The Newton kid is nice. His family runs a recreational shop." Charlie nodded his head, as if he approved. I just realized that Charlie must know every family in Forks since he was the Chief.

"You must mean Jessica Stanley. I don't know much about her family, but they seem good. Haven't had trouble with them." I was sure that Charlie had a list of every family in his head. Things that they did wrong, what they did right, should I be associated with them, and so on.

"Edwin Cullen is the son of Dr. Cullen. They keep to themselves, those Cullens, but I have not heard a compliant about them."

So he was the son of the doctor. It made sense now. After all the doctor was very good looking. With a doctor as a father, he, of course, could afford a Volvo as a car.

"You only met three people, Bella? I thought that you said that you met a lot."

"I don't remember their names, Dad. I just found out that I'm horrible with names," I said with guilt.

Charlie nodded his head as he understood. He left me to do the dishes while he went to watch some game that was on. I could not understand why Charlie would want to watch those. In most of the games that he watches, the players chase after a ball of some sort, and some of them get injured in doing so. I just cannot see the excitement in watching those. I also do not understand why the players get paid so much for chasing after a ball. Sure I was clumsy, but I was sure that I, too, can chase after a ball. Not as good as some of them, but still, I can chase after a ball.

I headed up to my room to start on my homework. There was not much homework, most of them are not due until sometime later, but I wanted to get a start on them. However, as I was doing my homework, my thoughts drifted towards Edward. I was curious about the conversation that he had with the secretary. I was also curious as to why he hated me so much. Did he found out from his father about my disorder? I can understand that someone who is so perfect would not want to associate themselves with me. I, too, would not want to be associated with someone who is so perfect. There was such a huge gap in our lives. He was beautiful, whereas, I was certainly not beautiful—my face was still covering from the blisters, I had freckles everywhere, my eyes were red, and my hair was a dull colour. He, on the other hand, had prefect skin, no signs of acne anywhere; his eyes did not give him a freaky look like mine; and his hair gives off such a warm feeling.

As I dozed off to sleep, my last thoughts for the night were that Edward and I could not be together. We were from two opposite poles. What I had forgotten, however, was that opposite attract, just like magnets. It would only take a certain amount of distance between the two poles before they attract one another.

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**A/N:** I'm sorry about the delay in updating, however, I did warn that it might take me a while to update.

Now, in regards to **Soccerdog12's** question: I do not know anyone with XP. I came across the disorder in one of the novels that I read years ago. I didn't really understood the disorder at that time, since I was like eleven or twelve, but the disorder came up again in my genetics course. I finally understood some it, and did some research on it since I was curious.


End file.
